By far my worst fall was commuting with nothing moving around me. I left the office one evening, roads were quiet, went to move round a parked car and must have over steered (still have very little idea what happened) to the extent that I turned my wheel side ways. Clipped in, over the bars, landed on my head, lying in the road in humiliation.

Coincidentally, the worst damage I have done to my bike (I don't really break a lot of parts) was jumping up a kerb when I was 15. Managed to hit the corner of the kerb and crack the rim bending it beyond all recognition.

It was the last riding day of the year in 2010, so I hit the "cow ride" on Garbo mainly to prove to myself that I can.
I hit it with style, and was so stoked to end the year on such a positive. I should have focussed on the trail ahead, but instead I patted myself on the back feeling awesome. Until my front tire hit a rock, ruined my balance, and sent me sideways over the bars.

I slammed my elbow into the rocks, and broke a chip off the bone. It hurt like hell, and I wasn't sure I would make it down, but I made it to the hotel. I spent the rest of the day mixing pain meds with vodka like a bawss. Weeks passed before I went to the doc, but the damage was done. I now have a large piece of bone sticking off the end of my elbow, and it hurts in the cold. All because my smug caught up with me.

Some of these are crazy. Arm in the front wheel? Holy shit.
It is a tie for me:
Rolling tripple hump rock and OTB.Against huge odds, Foot got hooked on a root, and dislocated my ankle and broke my fib. I i but scooted/crab walked to the road down the trail.
Running the same set of jumps at Ledge view 4 times, then the 5th time i just case the shit out of the last one. No clue why? Tomahawk(luv that description) my collar bone into 4 pieces. Walk down and avoid a unleashed Wrottie that thought he was Gandalf...thou shall not pass!!!
Im with DaveM. Ride with big monsters who can haul your ass out.

Not long ago I rode Lower Ladies clean, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was rolling slowly along flat, easy ground - you could have pushed a wheelchair along it - when I went over the handlebars like a spastic for no reason whatsoever and ended up busting my rear derailleur, its hanger, two cables and warped a rotor.

Once when I was a teen I decided to take my old dog for a walk by letting him pull me along on my bike. He saw a nice stick off to the left and yanked me sideways. The first thing to hit was my face. I had to live with massive road rash and weeping scabs for weeks.

Neither of these stories compares with reaching into the spokes of a moving bike and busting your arm, though. That one wins the thread.

This crash started well before the actual incident, the catalyst I believe to be a conversation with a friend about a feature on Natural High that I usually skip. I will admit that I was complaining about a lack of flow on an optional route, while said friend countered: "the builder built it, so I ride it."

The next time I was up there, I cruised in with confidence, hoping to tell my friend that I rode the feature just for the sake of riding it, and proceeded to lose my front wheel on the slimy plank of milled wood. My immediate reaction was to reach out with my left arm as I fell into the crevasse. I caught myself on the main bridge, but not without pulling my AC joint – an irritating injury that persists to this day but doesn't really affect my riding.

Needless to say I respect the feature more than before that point, but I don't choose to ride it very often.

Head on collision with another unknown rider on flat Ontario ground. The trail was a loop around the lake, and we met at the bottom of the only gulley with a blind cornder in the bottom.

I appearently fixed up his bike and then rode 10k home. Once I got home I started asking stupid questions and not remembering the answer from a minute ago. Had a concussion for a week, a shoulder that hurt for a year and a lump on my arm that surely looked broken, but wasn't. I sat in the backyard picking blueberries for three days instead of going to work.

But my bike was OK. 1 week old GT XCR - the first dual suspension in my group of friends and one of the first in the city. It sure went fast over the rough ground!

I rode with a guy a while ago that hit a streetlight pole while coasting down the rode after a ride eagle. he didnt have his chin strap done up and when he bounced his helmet fell off and he hit his head. did some kind damage where he couldnt use his arm properly and he never rode again.

Not a worse crash per say but I felt pretty stupid last Tuesday when i went off the step up on the right of Step Up Island in Garbo and some how got launched to the right and clipped that big tree at the top. I think if I had hit it head on I would have surely broken my femur as I seem to have a possible rupture in my Quadricep as it is. Whole upper leg is going black and it is still pretty hard to bend it much more then 90 a week later

Between this thread and my two friends in casts, I feel regularly reminded to take it easy up there and always call it a day a bit early. Every time a friend gets hurt I reflect for a second how lucky I've been, reconsider what measures I'm taking around protection/precautions, then go out and ride.

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There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.